Thank you, Ron, for your very clear explanation of this issue. It illustrates again how the world and the media can misinterpret Catholic belief, and we are at their mercy as so many are sure whatever they read or view in the news is true. The sad result is many think they KNOW what Catholics believe.

All the media stories that I've seen have the story wrong. They claim that the Pope is granting to priests the ability to forgive the sin of abortion, as if this were some new permission.

Priests could always forgive the sin of abortion, for any Catholic who is repentant. But for the Year of Mercy, the Pope is granting to all priests the faculty to lift the sentence of excommunication for abortion.

Not everyone guilty of the sin of abortion is excommunicated, one must know about the law and penalty at the time that the sin was committed to fall under excommunication. And even if a priest lacks that faculty, he can still forgive the sin of abortion. The excommunication, if any, can be lifted at a later time.